Official: Boston-Hyannis passenger rail service due by May

After a quarter-century’s absence, weekend passenger rail service from Boston to Cape Cod will begin on Memorial Day weekend and run through Labor Day, the Barnstable Patriot newspaper reports.

That was the word this week from Tom Cahir, administrator of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, who has been working on restoring the rail connection since his first day at the RTA.

Cahir said he heard last week that Gov. Deval Patrick supports the service, which would include one departure from Boston to Hyannis on Friday nights and Saturday and Sunday mornings and return trips Saturday and Sunday evenings. There is a possibility of an early Monday morning train from Hyannis to Boston.

Referring to the Cape Cod Railroad Bridge over the canal, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Wendy Northcross said, “We now [will] have our third bridge functioning as it needs to.”

Cahir and Northcross are among a number of Cape Codders who have been working for years to tap the Boston market for potential Cape visitors by rail. The effort will extend to travelers arriving in Boston for whom taking trains to scenic attractions overseas is second nature.

Another market will be Massachusetts itself. Cahir said he expects people along the MBTA line from Boston to the Middleborough/Lakeville station will take advantage of the Saturday and Sunday Cape-bound trains to enjoy day trips here. He noted that there’ll be plenty of parking in MBTA lots off-Cape on the weekend.

The plan is to attach a couple of air-conditioned rail cars and a bike car at South Station to Boston-Middleborough/Lakeville trains, which will continue without switching to Hyannis. Beyond that South Shore station, the Cape-bound train would stop at Wareham, Buzzards Bay, and either West Barnstable or Sandwich before arriving in Hyannis. Details are still being worked out.